In a process plant, various processes are employed to produce amounts of a desired product. The various processes are performed by a system of devices (vats, transfer lines, machinery and the like) operated in series or parallel. In addition, electronic sensing and computer control have been incorporated to detect and correct errors or unwanted changes in processing status, for example pressure, temperature and flow volume, and thus maximize processing.
Recently, other add-on computer programs or user applications have been utilized with processing systems to provide historization, accounting modelling, optimization, and/or inventory management. Typically, a host processor and a network of computer workstations or modules are employed to support the various computer control and add-on computer programs.
One disadvantage has been that the different add-on computer programs are not always compatible with current configurations of the host processor and thus require certain interfacing. Various interfaces are known and each have certain disadvantages and advantages and are typically system specific.